Richmonder sets 2 national records in 100-104 age group

Richmond, VA – By Dave Holland

Leaving a swim meet this afternoon at the Tuckahoe YMCA, I found
myself walking out the door with Marie Kelleher. As we
walked to her car, we fell into the usual friendly banter about
swim meets and times. “How did you feel in the
water today?”, I casually asked.

“Oh, you know how it is, some days you feel good in the
water and some days you don’t. Today wasn’t
really my best, but I’m not
complaining. I’ve been very fortunate.”

In many respects, Kelleher is no different than many of the
other 50-plus adults who competed at the Virginia Senior Games this
weekend. She drives her own car, swims four days per
week at 5am (she takes Wednesdays off), and competes in meets that
are close to home. Swimming today in the 50 and 100
free, she stood on the starting block and wore a white cap with an
American flag.

To the casual observer, she didn’t appear to be
racing. Swimming in lane 3 in the 100 free, the two
women on either side beat her easily, and waited graciously as she
finished in 3 minutes, 40 seconds. The woman in lane 2
reached across the lane line and exchanged a high-five with
her. Typical masters swim meet, right?

A look at the official results told a different
story. Kelleher’s age is listed as 100 in the heat
sheet and the results. Although she’s
actually only 99 until her birthday in December,
at this meet she competed in the 100-104 age group, as USMS rules
use the swimmer’s age as of December 31 for competitions held
in 25-meter courses.

Kelleher, representing Virginia Masters Swim Team, established
new United States Masters Swimming (USMS) national records in the
50 free (1:44.10) and 100 free (3:40.00). As there are
currently no USMS records listed in the books for the female
100-104 age group for any course, she becomes the oldest known
American woman to have competed at a USMS-recognized meet.

On the global stage, an Australian woman named Mary Maina is the
oldest known woman to have competed. Maina, competing at
the 1994 World Masters Games in Brisbane just two weeks after her
101st birthday, swam the 50 free (long course
meters) in 5:10.84.

With today’s performance, Kelleher might be the oldest
woman ever to have competed in the 100 free, in any pool,
anywhere. But that wasn’t really on her mind as
she got into her car to head home after another swim at the
YMCA. “I have a birthday in December, and I have
to get my driver’s license renewed. I wonder what
they’ll say to me?”